Peru: A Legal Research Guide

Guide to Peruvian legal materials (primarily federal) online and at the UW-Law Library. Sources are mainly in Spanish; annotations are given in English where deemed necessary. Note the dates of publication for each text, as some may be outdated.

Legal System and Political Structure

Peru is a representative democracy, governed by the principle of the separation of powers.

The executive branch is headed by the President, who is popularly elected, and is the chief of the state and head of the government. The Constitution provides for two vice presidents, who are also popularly elected.

The legislative branch is formed by the unicameral National Congress, which has elected 120 parliamentarians.

Peru's judicial branch is presided over by the Supreme Court of Peru, the highest judicial authority of the country. The Court is responsible for selecting, naming and ratifying the judges of Peru and for drawing the budget for the judiciary. The Superior Courts occupy the tier just below. These are mainly appellate courts, but in some cases they have original jurisdiction. Finally there are the Courts of First Instance, which exercise jurisdiction over minor civil and criminal matters.